Treyarch’s Game Design Director, David Vonderhaar, took to the official Call of Duty forums to detail the multiplayer level progression and unlocking systems in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Vahn starts off by re-stating that the game features 55 levels, and the amount of total XP needed to prestige is similar to that of World at War and Modern Warfare 1; however, with a faster rate of ranking up as medals and challenges add to your XP.

Much like previous games in the series, Create-a-Class will unlock at level 4, and each time you level up, you are provided one unlock token (so at level 4, you have 4 tokens to use).

Plus, at level 4, you are given around a dozen items for free, one item from each category: 1 Assault Rifle, 1 SMG, 1 LMG, 1 Shotgun, 1 Sniper Rifle, 1 Perk from each of the 3 perk categories, 1 lethal grenade, and 1 tactical grenade/equipment.

In addition, you are given other items to spend the unlock tokens on, again including one item from each category and Wildcards.

“You get a perk at level 5. You get equipment at level 6…At level 7 we unlock Scorestreaks. You get 3 for free and 3 you can optionally spend unlock tokens on…At level 8 we give you a Perk. At level 9 we give you new Scorestreak.”

Now, reaching level ten, you’ll begin to notice a pattern: “At level 10, we start to settle into a pattern. Their are exceptions, but the pattern is generally like this. At every major rank change, which is every 3 levels, we give you a gun and usually “something else” as a bonus for reaching a major rank change.”

In general, it goes like this.

Level 10 – Weapon + Something Else

Level 11 – Equipment (either lethal or tatical).

Level 12 – Scorestreak

This pattern repeats through all 55 levels with some minor statistical variations or bonuses when they make sense and because they math can’t be perfect.

What do you think of the leveling system? Let us know in the comments below!